But we don't want to be subsidizing rich countries at the disadvantage to us. So that makes me a little bit different than any other President because nobody used to ask these questions. And if you look at what's been happening over the years - over many, many years, over decades - it's rather ridiculous.
So that's all changing and that's all good for us. So I just see - I mean, I have two perfect examples: We have Qatar and we have Bahrain. You don't get much wealthier, and they're agreeing to do a lot more than they've ever done. And we're going to max out, and that will be good. That will be good. That will be great for our services.
It'll be nice where we can ask for a lot less money for our military because we're right now the policeman of the world, and we're paying for it. And we can be the policeman of the world, but other countries have to help us. And I think everybody up there agrees.
So thank you very much from Bahrain. That's great. I love to see you getting together like you are. You've been together for a long time, your two groups. And you've had a lot of victories. I have flags in the Oval Office with a lot of stripes from the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, and the Coast Guard. And they all have ribbons. I don't know if the cameras can show you, but they all have some - in some cases, hundreds of ribbons from victories. We only put up the victories, but we'll only have victories. But we only talk about the victories.
So thank you all very much. That's fantastic.
Now we'll go to the Coast Guard. And we just ordered a Coast Guard Cutter, the - an icebreaker - the likes of which nobody has seen before. The bad part is the price; the good part is it's the most powerful in the world. And it can go just about anywhere. The ice is in big trouble when that thing gets finished. It'll go right through it. But it's very expensive, but that's okay; we have to get the best.
But you folks are going to be very proud of it. Because you've seen it, I'm sure. It's a new design, highest technology. But with all the technology, it still needs very thick steel, when you get right down to it, right? It can be good technology, but you need thick steel.
It's like the border wall. We still need a wall. They can have all the drones they want flying up in the air and spinning around, and all the technology in the world. It's all - I call it "bells and whistles." But if you don't have the wall, it doesn't work.
With the icebreakers, you need a lot of steel in those hulls. And you have it. It's maxed out, and it's going to be incredible, and you'll get it fairly soon. We gave out the contract, and that's for the Coast Guard. So that's a little Christmas present. We'll call it a Christmas present to the Coast Guard. And thank you for the great job you've done.
So, Matt - would you like to say something, Matt?
LIEUTENANT SPADO: Yes. Good morning, President Trump. And merry Christmas on behalf of District 17 and all of the Coast Guard. I'm surrounded here by some of our watchstanders that stand duty at Sector Juneau, at the Coast Guard District, and also some of the station crews that operate out of small boats stationed in Juneau. And we're just here and we're ready for any unplanned events that could be occurring, whether it's search and rescue, environmental pollution, law enforcement, or any marine safety issues that might pop up.
So far, we've had a calm day here in Alaska, and we hope that it stays that way and people stay safe out there on the waters.
THE PRESIDENT: So how did you do in Alaska with the recent problem we had with the big - that was a big quake. They say we got lucky. There were very few people hurt, and nobody died. And it was big. It hit - it hit the proper location, I guess, we have to say.
How did you do with it? Were you involved much?
LIEUTENANT SPADO: Well, in Juneau, Alaska, we did not get much of the experience of the earthquake. But some of our members in Anchorage, they did sustain some structural damage to some of the buildings there. But luckily there was no injuries to any of the personnel, and everybody seems to be doing okay. Things are coming along quite well.
THE PRESIDENT: We got lucky there. It was a really big one, but it hit a area that, I guess, we were lucky that day. Things got a little bit lucky.
Well, I want to wish everybody a really merry Christmas, a happy New Year. Just remember, the people in our country, we're very proud of you. The country is doing well. We have a little bit of a shutdown because we believe in walls and we believe in borders and we believe in barriers. And, you know, we have a special country. People have to come in through the legal process - not just walk in and we have no idea who they are.
And we're stopping drugs at a record rate, but we need some help, and the help is the wall. We need a wall to help us. Otherwise, they just flow through. No matter what you do, they just flow through. You people know that better than anybody. I know that two of your groups actually built some very effective walls.
And the military built some very effective walls for me over the last four weeks on the southern border. And we've held them. We had caravans of people coming up. You've been seeing it. And we stopped them. We stopped them cold. And they're heading back. For the most part, they're heading back or they're staying in Mexico.
But I will tell you, I know the work you do, and it's been amazing. And it's great. I will see you all. I know I'll meet you all; I'll see you all.
But, on behalf of the country, merry Christmas, happy New Year. Keep doing the job. We're all very proud of you. Nobody can do what you do. Nobody. And we're very proud of you. And it's my honor to send you all that brand new equipment, whether you get the planes, or the ships, or the rifles, or any of the things you get. You're getting the best in the world.
We're even doing a little change on some of the uniforms, to put it mildly, right? Some of the uniforms - I hope you all like them. It's going to mean you have to be in perfect shape to wear those uniforms. That's one thing. But probably that's good.
But that's a big change. It hasn't been done in 50 years. And we're buying the new uniforms. They're going to be incredible. You know what I'm talking about, right, General? I see you.
So thank you all very much. I appreciate it and the country appreciates it. Merry Christmas. Thank you.
Okay, thank you, folks. Merry Christmas.
Q Sir, do you still have confidence in Secretary Mnuchin?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I do. Very talented guy. Very smart person.
Q What about the Fed Chair? Is the Fed Chair -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we'll see. They're raising interest rates too fast. That's my opinion, but I certainly have confidence.
But I think it'll straighten. They're raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good. But I think that they will get it pretty soon. I really do.
I mean, the fact is that the economy is doing so well that they raised interest rates, and that's as a form of safety, in a way. President Obama didn't do much of that - much easier to run when you have no interest rate. He had a very low interest rate. We have a normalized interest rate. A normalized interest rate means - you know it's good for a lot of people. They have money in the bank; they get interest on their money. For many years, nobody got interest on their money.
So - but I have confidence in them. I have great confidence in our companies. We have companies - the greatest in the world, and they're doing really well. They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it's a tremendous opportunity to buy - really a great opportunity to buy.
Q When will the government reopen, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: I can't tell you when the government is going to be open. I can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence - whatever they'd like to call it. I'll call it whatever they want, but it's all the same thing; it's a barrier from people pouring into our company - into our country. From drugs - it's a barrier from drugs. It's a barrier -
You know, there's a problem in this world today; it's called "human trafficking." Human trafficking is one of the hard-to-believe problems. And we're not going to let that take place. We're not going to let - we are working so hard to catch these traffickers. They're bad people. We can't do it without a barrier. We can't do it without a wall.
So you have drugs. You have human trafficking. You have illegal people coming into our country. We can't do that. We don't know who they are. In the caravan, 618 people were very bad - in some cases - criminals. Wanted for very bad - you saw the one man; he said he was wanted for murder. I don't want them in the country. The only way you're going to do it is to have a physical barrier, meaning the wall. And if you don't have that, then we're just not opening.
Yesterday, I gave out 115 miles worth of wall - 115 miles in Texas. And it's going to be built, hopefully rapidly. I'm going there at the end of January for the start of construction. That's a big stretch. We're talking about 500 to 550 miles total. It's a 2,000-mile border, but much of it has mountains and region where you can't get across. So we're looking at between 500 and 550. So we gave out 115 yesterday, and we gave it out at a great price. So we're going to have great wall there, and we have other sections to give out.
One other thing people don't understand or know or whatever, but they might as well because they're not really told: We've renovated massive amounts of very good wall - wall that was good, but was in bad shape. And so you don't have to replace it, but you have to renovate it. And we've renovated a massive amount of wall.
And, in addition to that - and I think very, very importantly - we've built a lot of new wall. So it's all being built. The new piece, the new section is very, very exciting what's going on there. And you'll see it. Because in January, I'm going there. We're almost having a groundbreaking, it's such a big section. It's probably the biggest section we'll get out.
So while we're fighting over funding, we're also building. And it's my hope to have this done - completed all 500 to 550 miles - to have it either renovated or brand new by election time.
Q And the contract, who did that go to?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, different people. Different people. Highly bid. Yeah.
Q Mr. President, is the $5 billion number - is that (inaudible) open to negotiation?
THE PRESIDENT: It's complicated because we're getting $25 billion. It's already approved. But that's for everything. That's for Homeland Security. That includes, as we say, the "bells and whistles." We have a lot of drones, a lot of everything in it, plus we have some wall money.
But we want the wall money to be increased because I want to finish it. But what people have to understand, it has been strongly started. A lot of areas - if you look at San Diego, it's now almost complete. And, interestingly, it's California which has been difficult to deal with because of the governor - very, very difficult to deal with.
But the people of San Diego came, and they wanted the wall built. Like I was going to build it last, but then I determined, "Let's build it." They really wanted it built. Because if I built it last, they'd all be screaming for a wall. And you don't hear that.
But the wall is beautiful. The job they've done is fantastic. So San Diego is largely built; it'll be completed very shortly. But they came to us - the people - and they were asking. They needed border protection. People were walking through Mexico, right into San Diego - right over people's front lawns - by the hundreds and by the thousands.
And they came to us. They asked for a wall. You know, the only thing that's going to stop that - a drone isn't going to stop it. High technology is not going to stop it. The only thing that stops it is a wall.
And when the Democrats talk about a wall - "It doesn't mean anything." Well, in Israel, they had a big problem. They put up a wall - 99.99 percent of the people were stopped from coming in. And we'll have the exact same thing. And we have a long, long border, but we'll have the exact same thing.
